Singh alleges bigots made jokes

A founder of Scotland’s biggest grassroots independence movement has claimed its campaign has been damaged by anti-English racists.

Ma n ny S i ng h wa s instrumental in forming the All Under One Banner (AUOB) movement.

It has seen hundreds of thousands of people march through Edinburgh and Glasgow and attracted the support of leading SNP figures, including Jus t ice Secr e t a r y Humza Yousaf.

But Singh left the organisation last year amid bitter infighting and has now made extraordinary claims about why he quit , saying he was also a victim of racism within the group.

He said: “I can’t support racism of any kind – that’s what it was all really about.

“I don’t care about your political beliefs, the colour of your skin or your gender or sexuality, I just wanted to build a Scottish independence movement for self-determination.

“AUOB is a vast movement and so you’re going to get some racists in there attending events, there’s nothing you can do about that.

“But the difference was that I couldn’t support people saying anti-English racist things. There were also jokes being made on occasions about the colour of my skin, which I felt had to be called out.

“I was hearing people talk about kicking the English out of Scotland, about stopping them buying holiday homes, that sort of thing.

“And then they were talking about ending immigration from other places as well. I said, ‘Hang on a minute, are you saying you would have wanted to kick out my mum and dad?’, and that is where we fell out.

“I thought it was the wrong menta l i t y, it was ethnic nationalism that was taking root, and that’s the dumbest thing ever.

“If people want to come here and buy houses and put money into the economy then how can you be against that?

“It wa sn’ t the sor t of independence movement that I wanted to be a part of and that’s why I have set up a new organisation.”

Last month, we revealed how Singh had claimed copyright of the term “Scottish Independence Movement” for a new grassroots independence pressure group.

Records published by the Intel lectual Property Off ice show he is now the owner of a logo including the phrase under an image of three lions and two unicorns.

Singh has dismissed criticism that he is attempting to take